CLICK TO DRINK AS TICKETS GO ON SALE FOR BEER FESTIVAL

Real ale and cider lovers will be setting their reminders for 9am on Tuesday September 1st when advance tickets go on sale for Manchester’s biggest beer festival.

Now in its third year, the Manchester Beer & Cider Festival is organised by the Greater Manchester branches of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA). And drinkers will have a new venue as the festival moves to Manchester Central in the heart of the city, following two successful years at Manchester Velodrome.

The celebration of local, regional and national brewing runs from Wednesday 20th to Saturday 23rd January 2016. Over 500 beers, ciders and perries will be available to enjoy in the main hall. Established brewery favourites like Hawkshead, Outstanding and Bollington will be joined by the best of new brewers such as Silver Street and Stockport Brewing.

Organisers are anticipating bigger crowds than 2015’s record-breaking attendance. Local lovers of Britain’s national drinks will form much of the attendance, but the event generates visitors to the city from the rest of the UK and abroad. Many drinkers want the certainty of gaining entry to the sessions. The online ticketing provided in association with EventBrite provides just that.

Tickets will be priced from just £3.00 and are available from the festival website, www.mancbeerfest.uk/tickets and its Facebook page. And to reward early bird bookings, a 50p discount will be automatically applied until the end of September.

Festival Organiser Graham Donning said: “No one wants to travel to a much-anticipated event only to be left queuing outside as we reach capacity. Booking tickets in advance guarantees entry and allows many to plan their visit to Manchester. The festival is the centrepiece, but we also expect many of the city’s pubs and breweries to be running fringe events. It will make this four days of liquid fun.”

The 2015 festival attracted nearly 11,500 visitors who enjoyed almost 39,000 pints of cask ale and 4,000 pints of cider and perry. More than 300 CAMRA members volunteer to set up and serve at the festival.